Timeline for What is the logic behind "I am X years old"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
34 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 20, 2022 at 21:42 | comment | added | Robbie Goodwin | Does anyone doubt this would be better Asked in English Language and Usage? | |
| Jul 17, 2022 at 17:04 | answer | added | Mari-Lou A | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jul 17, 2022 at 13:09 | comment | added | barbecue | @paulgarrett And don't forget "a child of 10 years" which is fairly common. | |
| Jul 17, 2022 at 1:02 | comment | added | paul garrett | Also, not in self-reference, but to others, in English, "a child 10 years of age", is equivalent to "a child 10 years old". The "of age" is a not as common... | |
| Jul 16, 2022 at 17:40 | comment | added | Andrew T. | Not a native English speaker, so I don't have any reason to be offended, but other languages such as the Japanese language also use the same construction as English, i.e. 私はX歳です = I am X years old. So, unless the question mentioned which languages are "in most languages (I know of)", there's a possibility of confirmation bias. | |
| Jul 15, 2022 at 21:35 | answer | added | Kirt | timeline score: 4 | |
| Jul 15, 2022 at 20:53 | answer | added | Robbie Goodwin | timeline score: 1 | |
| S Jul 15, 2022 at 15:27 | history | suggested | CommunityBot | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
code formatting should only be used for code, as it hurts accessibility
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| Jul 15, 2022 at 13:53 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Jul 15, 2022 at 15:27 | |||||
| Jul 15, 2022 at 13:31 | comment | added | RBarryYoung | Largely because past time isn't something that you can have, hold or possess. At any moment in time, you can only "have" that instantaneous moment. | |
| Jul 15, 2022 at 13:13 | comment | added | Arvo | If interested, look how age is expressed in russian (мне 20 [лет]) and in estonian (ma olen 20 aastane / ma olen 20 [aastat vana]) - you got at least two more possibilities. Sorry for not providing direct translations into english :) | |
| Jul 15, 2022 at 12:28 | comment | added | Todd Wilcox | I upvoted this question partly because as a naive English speaker I never would have thought there was anything strange about this construction. | |
| Jul 15, 2022 at 10:39 | comment | added | Ivo | "In most languages", I think you might be wrong there | |
| Jul 15, 2022 at 9:29 | comment | added | Davislor | You’ll usually be disappointed if you expect there to be a consistent logic behind things like this, in any language. if you enjoy learning about all the different ways languages express this, though, you’ll have a lot of fun. | |
| Jul 15, 2022 at 7:06 | comment | added | Kate Bunting | @KrazyGlew - As I commented above, English is not different from the Germanic languages in this regard. I am ten years old = Ich bin zehn Jahre alt (German) = Jag är tio år gammal (Swedish). | |
| Jul 14, 2022 at 23:15 | comment | added | Krazy Glew | I think this is a very good question. Yes, it may be just “because”, but IMHO it would be interesting to know when English became different in this regard from closely related Germanic languages or French. // For this reason it might be a better question for a linguistics stock exchange group, or English language and usage. History of language.//Although I can vouch that knowing such information helped me learn other languages, so I suspect it will help an English learner.// BTW I suspect the creolization of Old English with. Via the Danelaw and the Norman conquest. @Laurel … | |
| Jul 14, 2022 at 21:49 | answer | added | Davislor | timeline score: 6 | |
| Jul 14, 2022 at 20:52 | history | became hot network question | |||
| Jul 14, 2022 at 19:03 | comment | added | Luke Sawczak | Just to add to the fun linguistic survey, in Hebrew you are a son or daughter of N years. I am a son of 31 years. | |
| Jul 14, 2022 at 18:00 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackEnglishLL/status/1547642081379700737 | ||
| Jul 14, 2022 at 17:28 | comment | added | San Diago | Here we go again. | |
| Jul 14, 2022 at 16:59 | comment | added | San Diago | @KateBunting if that were the case, people would just say that. Instead, they focus on either arguing that English is not alone in this approach, or that it's the other approach that is "illogical". This suggests they took it to mean that I was implying English is illogical, or that it is "wrong" for being in the minority. This, coupled with language that can definitely be read as defensive, suggests that the users took offense to the question. | |
| Jul 14, 2022 at 16:47 | comment | added | Kate Bunting | Nobody is 'offended', it's just that the only answer is 'that's how we say it'. (German and the Scandinavian languages say it that way too.) | |
| Jul 14, 2022 at 16:34 | answer | added | Laurel♦ | timeline score: 10 | |
| Jul 14, 2022 at 15:31 | comment | added | Michael Harvey | I think this question might be a very good fit for Linguistics SE. The reason: it's a 'why' question. | |
| Jul 14, 2022 at 15:15 | comment | added | San Diago | @CowperKettle Thanks for the suggestion but I'll pass - this question seems to offend people somehow. | |
| Jul 14, 2022 at 15:13 | comment | added | San Diago | @Laurel Are you asking because you want to know or because you are offended by the question? | |
| Jul 14, 2022 at 15:11 | comment | added | Laurel♦ | What's the logic of "I have X years" in other languages? | |
| Jul 14, 2022 at 14:28 | comment | added | CowperKettle | Maybe people over on Linguistics SE would be interested in this question. | |
| Jul 14, 2022 at 14:19 | history | edited | Michael Harvey | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 2 characters in body
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| Jul 14, 2022 at 13:57 | review | Close votes | |||
| Jul 14, 2022 at 14:25 | |||||
| Jul 14, 2022 at 13:52 | comment | added | stangdon | Asking "why" questions about languages is often fruitless. Every language has aspects that don't make sense to non-native speakers, but native speakers never think about. | |
| Jul 14, 2022 at 12:55 | answer | added | Luke Sawczak | timeline score: 40 | |
| Jul 14, 2022 at 12:46 | history | asked | San Diago | CC BY-SA 4.0 |